The start of the 2019 season for Marquette women’s soccer has not gone as planned.
After a 5-0 win versus the University of Regina in their first exhibition of the season, the Golden Eagles lost their exhibition to Notre Dame and their first three regular season games.
It was almost deja vu because, for the second-straight season, Marquette opened the season 0-3. The Golden Eagles fell 2-0 to Colorado State University, 1-0 to Ball State University and 1-0 to then-No. 15 University of Wisconsin.
When asked about the similarities of this fall and last fall, head coach Markus Roeders said the team does not focus much on last season.
“It is a new season,” Roeders said. “We are really conscious of living in the present, trying to stay positive regardless of what happens and get some results. That starts with our attack to our build up for opportunities.”
One of Marquette’s biggest challenges so far has been its lack of offensive productivity. Opponents have outshot the Golden Eagles 42-19 to start the season.
Despite the early struggle, Marquette has benefited from some newcomers. Graduate student Natalie Yass and freshmen Josie Kelderman and Addie Shock have all made contributions to their new team. Yass and Kelderman have solidified the midfield position while Shock has locked down the defense.
The team recently entered the win column with a 1-0 win over Michigan Sunday after going 18 days without one.
“This is a huge win for us,” Roeders said. “We weren’t off to a great start in the beginning. (I) think Michigan was playing really well. We had to make those small adjustments. We went toe-for-toe and grinded it out.
Roeders said the team hasn’t had consistency in their first three performances like they did against Michigan.
“This is what it takes every single day to give ourselves a chance,” Roeders said.
Michigan, the Big Ten powerhouse, came into the contest on a three-game winning streak. The Golden Eagles went step-for-step with the Wolverines for the full 108 minutes of the game as it went into double overtime.
In the 108th minute, junior forward Kylie Sprecher scored the golden goal on a breakaway up the right sideline.
Sprecher, a Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin native, has been working her way back from an injury that made her impact on the team drop significantly last season.
“I know it has been a long road for her, and it has been hard for her and for me too. I couldn’t be more proud of her,” Roeders said. “As a coach, you want a player with time on the clock to have a mindset of right here right now and to execute. To see that and to come up with the winning goal, I am very proud of her.
Now MU will be looking to use this Michigan win as an opportunity to change the team’s mindset. The Golden Eagles have five games left in the nonconference schedule before opening BIG EAST play against Georgetown Sept 29.
“I hope it gives us that other lift, that extra belief that no matter what, we can do it,” Roeders said.
“It is a fun feeling. We haven’t had this in a while,” Sprecher said. “(I) am happy for our team in that matter. We keep saying as a team we need to open the floodgates, and once we get the first one, it will start flowing. So now as a team and as a whole, we can use this first win to build the confidence that anyone can score to win moving forward.”
The next stretch of games will continue to test the inexperience and youth of the team which has nine freshman.
MU (1-3) has road games against the University of Minnesota and the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and home games against Utah State University and Northern Illinois University.
The next game will be Thursday at University of Minnesota at seven p.m. Central Standard Time.
